Draft attachment for vehicle-gears.



G. STREIGH. DRAFT ATTACHMENT FOR VEHICLE GEARS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 18, 1908. 923,727, 7 Patented June 1,1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

atkwnuy GABRIEL STREICH, F OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN.

DRAFT ATTAGNT FOR VEHICLE-GEARS.

No. eaavav.

To all whomit concern:

Be-it known that I, GABRIEL Srnnioir, citi-.

zen of the United States, residing at Oshkosh,

' in the county of Winnebago and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new, and useful Improvements in Draft Attachments for Vehicle-Gears, of which the following is a specification. r

-My invention relates to draft attachments for vehicle gears and is, especially adated to trucks and heavy wagons, and the' ob ects of my invention are-to provide a draft approximately upon the axle so that a tongue to the vehicle is not needed, except for backing Also an ob purposes.

' vide an equalizer to the draft of the vehicle, whlch shall not require any lubrication, and

e shallbe unafiected by the action of the ele- 20 ments or by mud or other obstructions-dd posited upon the gear. A further object of my invention is to provide against a tongue agitation byreason of a twist motion or a side motion ofthe vehicle wheels.

Another object ofjmy invention is to produce an evener in which chains only, or devices having universal or swivel joints, shall be used on the draft and-tension connections, also to produce anevener in which the movement of the parts and connections may be harmonious and smooth and capable of action in harmony with the swaying motion ofthe team.

My invention" is of special importance in pulling the front wheels of a vehicle out of I a rut or from'street car tracks Without side draft or agitation of the tongue, and it provides an evener of the draft upon the axle, the said evener shifting laterally and, automatically to keep in the line of draft and to hold the draft directly upon the axle of the vehicle.

I achieve these objects by the device ill'u s' trated in the accompanying drawings in which,

Figure 1 is a front elevation. Fig. 2 a

plan and Fig. 3 a side'elevat-ion.

In thedrawings l represents the axle having draft chains 22 secured at opposite ends thereof by worm eye-bolts 4-4, said chains converging-to the evener 5 and being attached to the clevisl t thereof by the claws pin 3.

8 is a tongue seat and 12 the door thereof which extends laterally on each side beyond Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed April 18, 1.908. Serial No. 427,926.

tends each 'sldg ect of my invention is to pro- Patented June 1, 1909.

taut. The length of the bar 6, or rather the distance between the points of attachment of its chains, is regulated to these several motions in the construction of my invention. The evener 5 is suspended from the bar 6, as aforesaid, by means of short chains 10-10. which are of a proper length to accord with the side slide, or the twist mot-ion of the bar 6 in relation to the tautness of the draft chains 2j2. VVhifilctrces 15 are attached to the evener 5.

My invention provides an equalizer oi the draft and affords a draft directly upon the axle.

It will be Observed that when any twist motion or side draft is applied to the evener. it will be taken up by bar 6, either in a side 'motion within the loops, or a twist motion, until the opposite draft chain 2, becomes taut, and then the draft is directly upon the axle. My improvement is an improvement onthe style of evener, in which the evener is' suspended by a rigid crank bar, jointed to yield in a certain direction only and allow alternate oscillation of the bar on the rigid loops which suspend the bar, causing friction and noise and a rough movement of theparts. In my device, ll use, n lieu of the crank,

a simple sliding evener bar 6 moving in', loops 7 and in place'of the crank connec- .tion of the early'device, I use short chains 1010 to suspend the evener from the sliding evener bar 6. "These tension chains 10 act as a universal joint, and in addition to the limited movement allowed by the prior, more or less rigid crank bar, the links-of the chain allow movement, in all directions, so that the evener may. lift at one or the'other end. to oscillate without lifting the evener bar 6, and consequently friction from this source is reduced. There is also no need of lubrication of the part as the friction is now reduced.

The tension chains oco-act with the draft chains, and the evener shifts, more readily and smoothly than the usual crank support the whole draft attachment transferred to another vehicle.

What I claim is A draft attachment for vehicle gears'comrisin av seat with a fioorin havin its 0 b b bolted to said projecting ends, a bar loosely I posite ends projectingbeyond the seat, loops mounted in said loops and having its opp0- site ends projecting therefrom, chains secured to said projecting ends of the bar, said chains having a depending evener bar there on, whifiletrees secured to the opposite ends of the evener bar, said evener bar being also provided with a clevis having a coupling pin inserted therethrough, an axle having. the outer ends of chains of the evener bar secured thereto, the inner ends of the chains being secured to said clevis, and said evener bar adapted to have longitudlnal and lateral play so as to permit of longitudinal and lateral movement of the bar in the loops,

substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I atfix my signa- 35 ture, in presence of two witnesses.

GABRIEL STRETCH. Wit-nesses ROBERT \V. VVERTscH, JOHN \VOLFF, Jr. 

